Elaine Thompson/The Associated Press"My window's almost closed," UW's Jon Brockman says of a return to the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies (11-4, 2-1) play Oregon at McArthur Court on Thursday night.

When Jon Brockman arrived at Washington as a freshman during the 2005-06 season, he made an immediate impact as a rugged rebounder and inside scorer. His strong play helped the Huskies, led by Pacific-10 Conference player of the year Brandon Roy, reach the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament.

Brockman and the Huskies haven't been back to the NCAA Tournament since, a gaping hole in the career of one of the school's greatest players.

"Not being there and watching it on TV the last two years, it hurts," said Brockman, now a senior. "My window's almost closed."

This season, the Huskies (11-4, 2-1) seem to have the firepower to bust through that window. Their road back to the NCAAs continues Thursday night at McArthur Court, where Oregon has given them fits and the Ducks' fans have given them an earful.

The game against the struggling Ducks (6-10, 0-4) gained urgency for Washington after an 88-85 triple overtime loss to California (15-2, 4-0) on Saturday.

Washington seemed to have the game in hand numerous times, only to see the Golden Bears (15-2, 4-0) repeatedly come back.

"We feel like Washington is a top-level Pac-10 team," Cal coach Mike Montgomery said. "To be able to get out with a road win was pretty special."

A win would have been the Huskies' 10th in a row. Instead, they were left with coach Lorenzo Romar speaking ominously of what the loss could do if Washington is not careful.

"You can allow something like this to send you into a tailspin the wrong way," Romar said. "We definitely don't want that to happen. We've worked too hard to allow that to happen."

The high hopes for the Huskies have been fueled by the arrival of a player they've waited several years for. Isaiah Thomas, a 5-foot-8 point guard, leads all Pac-10 freshmen in scoring at 15.7 points per game, and plays with a poise beyond his years.

"I think he's done a great job for them," Oregon coach Ernie Kent said. "He's made a real good transition coming in the door, playing a role for them. He's quick, he knows how to score. He's going to present matchup problems for people because of his quickness, and I think he plays with a lot of confidence for a freshman."

Thomas was a legendary player at Curtis High in Tacoma, where he scored 51 points in a game and averaged 40.5 points in the state tournament as a junior. But he transferred to South Kent, a preparatory school in Connecticut. He spent two years there getting himself eligible to attend Washington, where he started this school year as a 19-year-old freshman.

"I'm just more mature, more as a person than as a basketball player," Thomas said earlier this season. "Being so far from home forced me to grow up."

Thomas and Brockman, who is averaging 16.2 points and 10.9 rebounds, form a potent outside-inside combination. Washington, which leads all Division I teams in rebounding differential at plus-11, plays an exciting, fast-paced style and leads the Pac-10 in scoring at 77.8 points per game.

The Huskies have given Seattle basketball fans a lift after a dismal era for the sport. The NBA left town when the SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder. As the Sonics were sinking to the NBA depths in their final Seattle years, the Huskies failed add to a string of three consecutive NCAA appearances as they finished seventh in the Pac-10 in 2006-07 and eighth in 2007-08.

The outlook for Washington had seemed so much brighter. Romar had signed an extraordinary recruiting class to complement Roy in his senior year. Brockman, from Snohomish High School, was supposed to have been joined by Martell Webster from Seattle Prep. Webster, however, opted to turn pro, and he is in his fourth season with the Trail Blazers instead of what might have been his senior season for the Huskies.

After the NBA changed its rules so players could no longer be drafted out of high school, Romar added 7-foot center Spencer Hawes, Webster's former Seattle Prep teammate, in the 2006-07 season. Hawes had a good freshman season in which the Huskies finished 19-13 and 8-10 in conference. But before Washington could build on that, Hawes declared for the NBA Draft, and he is in his second season with the Sacramento Kings instead of his junior year with the Huskies.

Can this finally be the season the Huskies' potential plays out? This week should provide some answers for Washington.

The Huskies have a major Achilles' heel in free throw shooting -- they are 64.6 percent at the line, which ranks ninth in the Pac-10 (ahead of only Oregon State at 63.6). That's an improvement from last season, when they shot 58.6 percent.

The biggest culprit his Brockman, who is shooting 53.8 percent and was 2 for 8 at the line against Cal, including two misses with 48 seconds in the third overtime when the score was 83-83.

"It's even harder when it's something you put so much emphasis on in the off-season, us as an entire team," Brockman said. "Sometimes the ball falls short. You just gotta get back up and keep on shooting them."

He figures to get tested Thursday at Mac Court, where the Huskies haven't won since Roy was a senior and Oregon's Pit Crew usually has something special planned for Washington, including a chant of "Gary Coleman" for 5-foot-9 guard Nate Robinson, and lustful booing for Ryan Appleby, whose crime was catching a nasty elbow in the face from UO guard Aaron Brooks at the Pac-10 tournament, then refusing to shake Brooks' hand the following year.

Whatever the Oregon fans come up with, it will be another hurdle the Huskies need to clear if they are to return to the NCAA Tournament.